Anybody who's spent time in a courthouse knows there's a fine line between "innocent" and "not guilty."

That subtle difference is woven throughout Attorney General John Kroger's report into the relationship between Sam Adams and Beau Breedlove, the one in which Kroger explains that he's not pursuing criminal charges against the mayor because, well, the kid would have made a lousy witness.

The mayor is not guilty of committing a crime by having sex or something like it with Breedlove before he turned 18. But is Adams innocent? Only if the question is whether he showed the kind of judgment we expect -- or at least should expect -- from our elected leaders.

I'm sure the report is considered good news at City Hall. Kroger, a former federal prosecutor, was nowhere near as detailed as he could have been in outlining just what happened between Breedlove and Adams. He did not give recall proponents the ammunition -- juicy statements, say, about how Adams lied to win the election --that they probably need to spur fundraising or collect enough signatures to trigger a special election.

Mostly, Kroger used exceedingly careful, sometimes frustratingly oblique language to reaffirm what we already knew: Adams, then a 42-year-old city commissioner, met Breedlove, a 17-year-old legislative intern, in the spring of 2005. The attraction was mutual. They went to lunch, then Breedlove showed up at a City Hall party, carrying along some home-baked cookies as a gift. (Oatmeal raisin? Snickerdoodle? Lady fingers? Kroger doesn't tell.) Breedlove says they wound up kissing in a bathroom.

Yet again and again, Kroger's report boils down to one basic fact: It's Breedlove's word against Adams'. And the younger man, convicted of shoplifting from a Hawaii Macy's in 2007 and paid to pose naked for Unzipped magazine this spring after the scandal blew up, isn't exactly the star witness type.

"The best case was one no responsible prosecutor would pursue," Kroger said.

According to the report, Breedlove tailored his version of the facts to whatever he thought his questioner wanted to hear. In 2007 and 2008, he actively sought out reporters at The Portland Mercury and Willamette Week to tell them about the bathroom make-out session.

Two days after Adams admitted lying about their relationship, Breedlove told a lawyer and private investigator hired by the mayor that nothing untoward happened. (Anybody who thinks Adams wasn't worried should note he sent a legal team to coax an exculpatory statement out of Breedlove at 11 p.m. on the same day District Attorney Michael Schrunk and Police Chief Rosie Sizer asked Kroger to investigate.)

Three days after that, Breedlove told The Oregonian they kissed in the bathroom weeks before his birthday. That seems to be the same account he gave state investigators in six separate interviews. But Kroger simply could not put Breedlove on the stand.

Despite what people at City Hall might hope, this is still not over. Investigators interviewed 57 people and collected hundreds of e-mails, text messages and notes, including Adams' talking points from September 2007, when he first lied about the relationship and the resignation letter wrote but never used when the story broke in January. Those are all public records. All those nasty little details that Kroger found too salacious or distracting to include in his 17-page summation -- for example, the two cash loans Adams gave Breedlove, the ones Breedlove never even tried to repay and Adams apparently never mentioned again -- will see the light of day.

Let's be optimistic and say that maybe this was the attorney general's plan: Issue a report that is blander than a plain white dress shirt, then let the public wade through the source material and decide for itself.

There's a lesson here for Oregon politicians, although it may not be the one Kroger intended: If you're going to throw good judgment, caution and common sense to the wind, do it with a teenager, or at least one dumb enough to behave as inconsistently and immaturely as Breedlove has.

You might humiliate your city and yourself, but you won't get indicted.